Ben Ciccati, Cover Illustrator

Are you a film guy? If so, what kind of stuff do you like?  I’m not a film guy, and I hate being inside theaters, but a few favorites are Dark Days, I Heart Huckabees, and the first Star Wars film. But not on HD or Blu-ray. I think that new stuff looks really bad, and I refuse to watch it. I also saw The Irishman (over the course of four nights) and thought it was great, and I love looking at old cars.

Of all the celebrity portraits you’ve done, what’s your favorite? Which one was the hardest to pull off?  I can’t even remember who I’ve done! I think Denzel was one of my better ones a few years back. Glenn Close was a challenge.

If you could do a live portrait of anyone, living or dead, who would it be?  Mr. T. I’m a huge fan. We could just sit and pity fools for hours together.

How do you like to work? Bright-eyed and bushy-tailed during the day, after a few at night?  At night with rye whiskey.